A multidisciplinary team of researchers from four academic cancer centers surveyed 318 surgeons and 117 radiation oncologists who treated a population-based sample of patients diagnosed with breast cancer in metropolitan Detroit and Los Angeles. They determined that despite the widespread availability of tumor boards in these cities, 28% of the radiation oncologists indicated that other providers failed to include them early enough in the breast cancer treatment decision-making process for their patients (Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys, April 2012, Vol. 82:5, pp. 2072-2078).

Nearly half of the surgeons admitted that few or almost none of the breast cancer patients they had treated in the past year had consulted with a radiation oncologist before undergoing definitive surgery.

Lead author Dr. Reshma Jagsi, PhD, associate professor of radiation oncology at the University of Michigan, and fellow researchers contend that more patients may decide to have a mastectomy performed without knowing that other treatment options may be available.

They also discovered that the desire to avoid radiotherapy was strongly correlated with a patient's decision to have a mastectomy, but many patients did not know that they still might require radiotherapy treatment following the surgery.

Institutional or national guidelines should be established to avoid variations in care across healthcare providers, according to the authors.